


Owls Well That Ends Well

by merrihael



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Characters, Boys In Love, Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, Long Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, idk if there's a tag for that, kisses lots of kisses, pulse rings / HR rings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 17:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13768665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrihael/pseuds/merrihael
Summary: Akaashi is generally a neat person. Except when it’s 10 p.m on a Friday evening and he’d just managed to get home after a long, long day at work. Then, he throws his bag on the floor of his living room, by the couch, carefully sets his camera down on his desk and sprints for his laptop, vaulting over his dog, asleep in the middle of the hallway, as per usual. Minutes later, the video call connects, and a sleepy-looking Bokuto appears on his screen, bathed in early morning light.ORBokuto's in Los Angeles, Akaashi is in Tokyo, with a 17 hour time difference, it isn’t easy, but what can’t love do?





	Owls Well That Ends Well

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided that all my drabbles must have an owl related title and this one isn’t an exception (except that I really wanted a pun. Kudos to the Nik to my Damen (@kakuseis on Tumblr) for doing her best to help hahah.)

Akaashi is generally a neat person. Except when it’s 10 p.m on a Friday evening and he’d just managed to get home after a long, long day at work. Then, he throws his bag on the floor of his living room, by the couch, carefully sets his camera down on his desk and sprints for his laptop, vaulting over his dog, asleep in the middle of the hallway, as per usual. Minutes later, the video call connects, and a sleepy-looking Bokuto appears on his screen, bathed in early morning light.

Every evening looks almost exactly like that: in Tokyo, Akaashi gets home later than he anticipated because of a needy client or traffic or whatever else decided to stand in his way that day. He goes straight for the laptop, and in LA, Bokuto wakes up at five in the morning just to start his day with him.

It wasn’t always long distance. When they started dating, they had been the spiker and setter, captain and vice-captain, virtually inseparable duo of Fukurodani Academy. Problems only really occurred when Bokuto graduated. He was offered a sports scholarship in one of the prestigious colleges in LA, America, halfway across the world from home. He’d declined, without telling Akaashi that he’d even been offered the place. Akaashi had felt guilty to his very core: opportunities like that didn’t just come along every day, and he knew he was the reason Bokuto had declined. So when the college offered again, Akaashi found out and convinced Bokuto to go. It hurt, of course, kissing Bokuto at the airport, knowing that he won’t get to for a year at the least. But damn him if Akaashi was going to let Bokuto sabotage his budding career just for his sake.

Tokyo, where Akaashi lives, is 17 hours ahead of LA, where Bokuto is finishing up his college education. They text one another throughout their days, but the likelihood of them being both online and available at the same time is painful to think about. So these evening (early morning for Bokuto) video calls are really the only time when nothing else is taking their attention away from each other. And Akaashi counts down the hours, every day.

“Hello, Akaash’,” Bokuto yawns, rubbing at his eyes. He’s still in bed - Akaashi can see the fluffy white pillows and the deep blue blanket - and a little puffy-cheeked from sleep.

“Good morning, Kou.” Akaashi smiles at him, and feels warm all over when Bokuto smiles back sleepily. His boyfriend might well be the most beautiful creature on the planet, and Akaashi wants nothing more than to kiss him right now. A sharp, stabbing feeling in his chest reminds him that he can’t. Not until the summer - maybe.

“Tell me about your day,” Bokuto asks, even though he’s read all of the messages Akaashi had left him throughout his day and replied to them with commendable excitement, several hours after the fact. Akaashi does, and they drift off into conversation, as if they were sitting right next to one another instead of worlds apart.

\---

Akaashi lies alone in bed at night, staring up at his white ceiling. He can hear Lady’s quiet snores from where she sleeps, curled up into a ball at his feet, like a large, fluffy heater. He can’t sleep: it’s one of those nights when he misses Bokuto so much it’s like a weight had been placed square on his chest, constricting his breathing.

Careful not to wake Lady, Akaashi shuffles about on the bed and finally manages to reach the nightstand - a double bed is far too big for a lonely man with a boyfriend halfway across the world. When the ring slips onto his finger, it’s weight is comforting, familiar. Akaashi can feel Bokuto’s heartbeat and it lifts the weight on his chest, just a little.

Bokuto had gotten the rings for them as an anniversary gift the year before. At first, Akaashi thought they weren’t worth their price, but after experiencing first hand just how close he felt to Bokuto when his heart drummed on his finger, he had changed his mind. He wears the ring almost constantly, except in those few hours it needed to charge.

The ring pulses with a faint red light as Bokuto’s beats rhythmically, beat after beat, and Akaashi slowly drifts off to sleep.

\---

Akaashi steps around a couple that had stopped in front of a Valentine’s Day display, admiring the stuffed bears and the pretty rings. Akaashi’s own is pulsing faintly as he buries his hands in his pockets. He feels bitter, watching them as he arcs around them. They’re able to hold hands, hug, kiss, enjoy the city together while he’s… Akaashi shakes his head, not wanting to dwell on his misery further. His phone rings in his pocket, the soft hoot of an owl announcing a message from Bokuto. He always knows… Akaashi smiles to himself.

“Are you home?” Bokuto had texted, followed by several crying emotes when Akaashi hadn’t answered. Akaashi frowns: it’s the middle of the night in LA, and Bokuto is usually soundly asleep at this hour: either something bad happened or..? A stray raindrop lands square on his screen and Akaashi wipes it away with his sleeve before replying.

“On my way, did something happen?”

“Nah,” Bokuto’s reply is lightning fast. “I just miss you a lot.” Akaashi swallows, a familiar weight settling over his heart.

“I can call you soon.” He replies, walking a little faster towards his apartment complex. Toward home and his laptop - and Bokuto.

“I’ll be waiting!!” comes the reply. Akaashi slips his phone into his pocket and, bracing himself against the intensifying rain, breaks into a jog.

By the time he’s made it to the lift, his hair is sopping wet. Spring was moody that year, with showers occurring without any warning. Akaashi catches a whiff of the same cologne Bokuto uses - the same cologne Akaashi won’t admit he sprays on his pillows sometimes - in the lift and his heart twists. He misses being able to hold Bokuto close and inhale him, smelling the cologne, the sea and the vanilla fragrance that Bokuto somehow always smells of. He rounds the corner with the vivid memory of Bokuto’s cologne still in his head, and his heart stops.

Leaning against the wall beside his front door, with a grin on his face, is Bokuto. His hair isn’t gelled up, so the white and black strands fall down over his eyes, and there’s a beanie pushed down hastily over them, but it’s Bokuto and before he knows it, Akaashi’s running down the carpeted hallway.

Bokuto lets out a whooping laugh and catches him in his arms, lifting him up in the air and kissing him like everyone dreams to be kissed at least once: like Akaashi is the only person he’d ever want to kiss in his life.

“What…” Akaashi pants when Bokuto finally sets him down, golden eyes sparkling mischievously as he grins down at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting you, but I’d much rather be kissing you,” Bokuto says, and snickers when Akaashi frowns at him. “Oikawa convinced our coach to give us time off for Valentine’s. I got the first plane.”

Akaashi’s never been so glad for Oikawa’s existence before. He grins and kisses Bokuto again, threading his fingers through the hair at his nape. Bokuto wraps his arms around his waist, and Akaashi is home.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sappy, self indulgent, short, the three grand S' of this fic. Hope you enjoyed nonetheless. 
> 
> You can come yell at me on Twitter: [@merrihael](https://twitter.com/merrihael)!


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